Skyride and Parachute Drop

[texascyclone]

How long do these 2 attractions have left? Parachute drop is old and you have zumango. Skyride is the last one operating at a six flags park

[Yoshi]

I'm hoping both stay for a long time. Even with Zumanjaro, the Parachutes are different in that they can be ridden by anyone as long as they aren't scared of heights where Zumanjaro is a thrill ride.

 

A lot of parks do seem to be removing their Skyway rides but it is such an iconic ride at Great Adventure. Besides the transportation aspect, I like getting an aerial view of the park especially during HITP with the lights all over.

[pashacar]

I think Tom or Harry has said this before, but we probably have the M&Ms sponsorship to thank for the Skyride's continued existence. Still, let's hope Selim doesn't get any ideas.

[GASM]

18 hours ago, pashacar said:

I think Tom or Harry has said this before, but we probably have the M&Ms sponsorship to thank for the Skyride's continued existence. Still, let's hope Selim doesn't get any ideas.

M&M’s and more likely than not, the parts they’ve received from the others that have been removed. I have to imagine it’s one of the biggest maintenance nightmares in the park, if not the biggest, due to the fact that it’s the last sky ride in the chain, and one of the last ones of its kind in the world. It definitely has an expiration date, as do most rides, but I don’t see it happening within the near future unless something major happens.

 

Parachuter’s Perch is also probably safe being that they go through the effort of theming it for HITP every year. Demolition certainly isn’t an option like Texas Chute Out due to its proximity to so many things in every direction, unless they think they can land it precisely in the employee lot next to Green Lantern. I can’t imagine maintenance is fun on it, but being an Intamin ride, I’d assume it can be overhauled if need be.

[GAcoaster]

Getting the parts from all the other parks has been a huge plus for GA. 

 

At the same time, SeaWorld Parks operates three skyrides and gets parts with few issues. Doppelmayr has all the patents from Von Roll and manufactures Von Roll replacement parts. It's really a case of does Six Flags value the ride and want to spend the money on it. When you have several marquis attractions (mostly built by Intamin) that eat up so much of the maintenance budget, it's hard to justify spending too much to keep and old ride running that MOST guests do not specifically come to the park to ride versus rides that they do specifically come for (El Toro, Kingda Ka, etc). I can tell you Kingda Ka alone costs more to keep running than most parks annual maintenance budgets. 

[BillyG]

3 hours ago, GASM said:

I have to imagine it’s one of the biggest maintenance nightmares in the park, if not the biggest, due to the fact that it’s the last sky ride in the chain, and one of the last ones of its kind in the world. It definitely has an expiration date, as do most rides, but I don’t see it happening within the near future unless something major happens.

 

I believe Great Escape would like a word with you about this being the last skyride in the chain

[Tower]

This idea would probably better be suited for the 2023 and beyond thread but if the Skyride does end up getting removed I'd love to see a train ride replace it, similar to the one at Great America. It could make multiple stops and could even have an interactive guide going along with it.

[GAcoaster]

The days of transportation rides being added to parks are gone unfortunately. They cost too much to build and maintain, and are not a draw to a park for most guests. 

[Daved Thomson]

17 hours ago, GAcoaster said:

The days of transportation rides being added to parks are gone unfortunately. They cost too much to build and maintain, and are not a draw to a park for most guests. 

I fully agree that transportation rides in parks (like the sky ride) or getting a ride from the car to the park (parking lot trams) or a ride around the park (trains) are expensive to operate, acquire, and maintain.  But, eliminating them does impact the type of guest willing to go to a park, just as the elimination of shows and attractions does.  I'm specifically referring to the older crowd.  If these companies claim to want to draw customers willing to pay a premium price, they must provide a premium experience.  Even Disney is beginning to feel the effect of ever increasing prices while cutting back on the basics.  As you mentioned in another comment, Sea World operated parks continue to operate Sky Rides and Disney installed the Sky Liner.  Both companies seem to have a better grasp on preventive maintenance throughout their parks.  Six Flags doesn't seem to believe in preventive maintenance, preferring, instead to wait until something is truly broken before fully fixing it or, more often than not, throwing a band aid on it or simply eliminating it.

Edited November 15, 2022 by Daved Thomson

[truepolak90]

Unfortunately the park has confirmed that the parachutes are being removed. In a instagram comment they mention it.

[The Master]

18 hours ago, truepolak90 said:

Unfortunately the park has confirmed that the parachutes are being removed. In a instagram comment they mention it.

 

That sucks big time. GADV is becoming pretty unrecognizable from what it was in my childhood. 

[Daved Thomson]

Totally agree, but I actually think this is just one more instance of the man at the top not knowing the parks, their demographics, or much else.  His idea of market research seems to be asking friends of his to tell him what they think when they go to a park.  I'm getting the impression that park president's have been largely eliminated at some parks, with regional president's becoming responsible for multiple parks.  Good luck with that!

[GAcoaster]

This is usually a case of a spreadsheet that shows costs of operating versus the value of the ride on paper with depreciation. Add to that the number of riders per year as part of the equation and it doesn't look good for older rides. Nostalgia and sentimental value doesn't appear on a spreadsheet. 

 

Disney is having the same issue where the decision makers don't understand the intangibles of a park experience. Magic, wonder, and fun don't show up on spreadsheets.  

[The Master]

Big wigs mainly care about making the books look good, often more so than actually making a profit from operations. Sadly I think this new administration is using Shapiro's old playbook. 

[BillyG]

19 hours ago, GAcoaster said:

This is usually a case of a spreadsheet that shows costs of operating versus the value of the ride on paper with depreciation. Add to that the number of riders per year as part of the equation and it doesn't look good for older rides. Nostalgia and sentimental value doesn't appear on a spreadsheet. 

 

Disney is having the same issue where the decision makers don't understand the intangibles of a park experience. Magic, wonder, and fun don't show up on spreadsheets.  

Unfortunately, they don't realize (as many of the smaller parks have, either intentionally or just due to lack of money to purchase a bunch of new rides to replace ones that they already have) that keeping these types of rides may actually turn out to be beneficial on the financial end as well as from the nostalgia/sentimental viewpoint.

 

When you are the only park (as was the case here, at least within the US) with this particular ride, you will very likely get some additional people to come to your park just because they want to experience something that is simply not available anywhere else!  If you remove that one thing, they no longer have a reason to come to your park (even from a distance, meaning they are likely buying the more expensive tickets not a yearly pass or similar, and probably getting more things like souvenirs that repeat attendees already have), so that is a fair amount of revenue that never arrives.

[pashacar]

On 2/17/2023 at 10:58 PM, The Master said:

Big wigs mainly care about making the books look good, often more so than actually making a profit from operations. Sadly I think this new administration is using Shapiro's old playbook. 

 

It's funny you say that, because to me it feels so different from that. Shapiro looked at numbers and removed rides, sure, but he also tried to "Disney-fy" the experience. The Glow in the Park parade was the best show the park has put in since the WB days. And the Saturday Night Lights fireworks were up there, as well. There were more walkaround characters and street performers. He would have never taken the 3d off of Justice League or cut the preshows from rides. So there's some overlap, but to me he at least understood some of the immersive, "magic" element that a theme park should have beyond a carnival.

[GAcoaster]

With every management/ownership change it's always the best of times and the worst of times. They'll all do something great that everyone likes, but then do something terrible everyone hates.  

[The Master]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:45 AM, pashacar said:

 

It's funny you say that, because to me it feels so different from that. Shapiro looked at numbers and removed rides, sure, but he also tried to "Disney-fy" the experience. The Glow in the Park parade was the best show the park has put in since the WB days. And the Saturday Night Lights fireworks were up there, as well. There were more walkaround characters and street performers. He would have never taken the 3d off of Justice League or cut the preshows from rides. So there's some overlap, but to me he at least understood some of the immersive, "magic" element that a theme park should have beyond a carnival.

 

The parade was nice, but took money away from rides which he did trim quite a few out. The park never fully recovered from all of his ride removals leaving less to be cut by current management. I have to take your word about the fireworks as I make it a point to never go to parks on Saturdays. The street performers were bandaids for the extensive number of  missing rides at the time. But at least he did try to bandaid the cuts as opposed to leaving them open and glaring. Not sure if I agree about the 3D delete from JL, I could see Shapiro doing that during the Covid scare and not bother reinstalling it after. Even before Shapiro, SF had a long history of letting complex themed rides fall apart, especially GADV. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by The Master

[GAcoaster]

Great Adventure has one of the highest costs for maintenance of any park. That has always been a problem for the park. Add to that the maintenance of Kingda Ka alone which is probably the entire maintenance budget of most other Six Flags parks. 

[RobertDavid]

On 2/16/2023 at 11:37 PM, The Master said:

 

That sucks big time. GADV is becoming pretty unrecognizable from what it was in my childhood. 

 

It's funny, but I am actually glad it will be removed, for pretty much the same reason you wish it wasn't. It wasn't there when I went to the park as a child. I saw it as an obnoxious eyesore, especially when they painted it multiple colors. When I started going to the park, when it opened, it was a forest. All you could see from the parking lot through the trees were a portion of the skyride and the top of the Big Wheel. It was magical to enter the forest and discover what was inside. Now you pull into the parking lot and see through the entire park. The parachutes were pretty much the beginning of that mess. I never liked the fact that they built rides in the parking lot and that a park built in a lush forest has practically no trees left in it. 

[GAcoaster]

Just remember that the location of the Parachute was specifically to draw people into the games area, and it worked. 

[29yrswithaGApass]

13 minutes ago, RobertDavid said:

 I saw it as an obnoxious eyesore...

 

Wow, I couldn't disagree more.  I too didn't care for the repaint but when it first opened and was all white I thought it was beautiful.  It looked classic, graceful, and simplistic all at the same time.

 

[RobertDavid]

2 minutes ago, 29yrswithaGApass said:

 

Wow, I couldn't disagree more.  I too didn't care for the repaint but when it first opened and was all white I thought it was beautiful.  It looked classic, graceful, and simplistic all at the same time.

 

 

The parachutes looked good, but the tower looked like something from an industrial park. And the whole thing stuck out like a sore thumb.

[The Master]

I prefered the original white color sceme for the tower too. Beauty is in the eyevof the beholder and sometimes when you grew up.